about us

Just about anyone who has paid any attention to pop culture in the past 30 years can picture Bart Simpson. What few people know, though, is that Bart’s iconic hairline is lovingly lifted from cartoonist Gary Panter’s punk everyman character Jimbo and his spiky hair - meaning that one of America’s most beloved pop culture characters actually springs from a key figure in its groundbreaking punk scene.in "Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and the Dual History of Punk and Comics"11 dez 2017

Most people agree that there hasn’t been more than one good episode in a season since the mid 2000s. There is, though, a lot of Springfield-related creativity happening—it’s just that none of it is coming from the show’s creators. Rather, there are artists and publishers bringing their own imitable style to the Simpson family through a whole array of self-published publications.in "The True Spirit of 'The Simpsons' Lives On in These Bootleg Zines"12 dez 2017

Panter’s graphic sensibility came to substantially define the visual culture of punk, from band flyers, record sleeves and cover art, to T-shirts and posters, comics, books, and fanzines. Panter is the innovator of punk comics; people sometimes call him the king or the godfather of punk comics. in "Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and the Dual History of Punk and Comics"11 dez 2017

"Punk" was a term for disrepute and outsiderness, resignified in the 1970s as an expressive, antiestablishment rejection of the "expert" and the corporate - [a] movement characterized by short, sped-up rock songs and anti-conformism.

The punk scene that launched cartoonists Panter and Groening was part of a larger punk movement that hit America, and the UK, in the mid-to-late 1970s. Both political and aesthetic, the punk movement, which often registered as a visceral or even violent response to mainstream pop culture, encouraged people to create their own culture across many different forms of production. This includes, most famously, the music that came to be known as punk rock. Punk culture often consolidated around bands, along with the art and graphic design that went into their promotion - as well as the fanzines that articulated their ideas and goals. The "do-it-yourself" ethic is the defining feature of punk culture and production.in "Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and the Dual History of Punk and Comics"11 dez 2017

Fanzines link punk (a historical movement and ongoing system of values that prizes independence at the level of creation) and comics (an art form conventionally designed for print circulation) directly. Zines, as today they are commonly known, are independently published periodicals on a range of topics. The roots of zines and comics run deep together: teenage writer/artist team Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster published the earliest incarnation of Superman in 1933 in their very own mimeographed fanzine Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization.

And zines, with their DIY ethic, are a cornerstone of punk philosophy and its music specifically: they represent independence from the corporate, the building of community through the circulation and exchange of knowledge, and a forum for promoting bands. One sees in punk zines just how key the frisson between words and images that motors comics is to the punk aesthetic.in "Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and the Dual History of Punk and Comics"11 dez 2017

Voltando ao Matt G, 1977, the year Panter and Groening both moved to the city.

Comics as a sequential medium, which at its heart "is about distillation and condensation."

Chute wedges a great deal into "Why Comics?," including history, content analysis, artist interviews, amusing asides and more than 100 pages of illustrations, [onde] suggests that we’re in a blooming, expanding era of the art - comics are everywhere, on big and little screens, on the page and online.in "The Hand of the Comic Artist"11 dez 2017

Transpira uma certa sensibilidade que podemos acolher...:

Her interest in comics primarily as an auteurist enterprise [+] "a significant feature of the very notion of comics for grown-ups is a rejection of the idealization of men in tights (and women in leotards)."in "The Hand of the Comic Artist"11 dez 2017

E reconhecemos igualmente outros tópicos mais típicos nos P+:

Chute divides her study into the "10 biggest themes in today’s comics and graphic novels," starting with "Why Disaster?" ("the foundational theme of the comics") and moving onto "Why Sex?" and "Why Girls?"in "The Hand of the Comic Artist"11 dez 2017

She raises the topic of visual culture more generally in her discussion of how disaster is represented in comics and what she calls "the media spectacle" of Sept. 11, a date that, as she writes, "ushered in a new, intensified global visual culture heavily invested in articulating — and often actually documenting — disaster and violence." Chute doesn’t distinguish among the types of images that make the present what she calls "the most visually amplified era in recent memory," with its "videos, GIFs, digital photographs and myriad visual interfaces online." Yet while many images that flow around us are visually amplified (3D, IMAX) much of this amplification is dedicated to photographic representation. New technologies, in turn, are often focused on the intensification of visual verisimilitude (virtual and augmented reality). We are inundated with the banal (cat videos) and the horrific (atrocity imagery); we are flooded with a nonstop visual stream that I think of as the 24/7 movie. Perhaps, in part, the popularity of comics that Chute rightly celebrates is a reaction to our fatigue with certain aspects of this inundation.in "The Hand of the Comic Artist"11 dez 2017

Dois, da autenticidade.

This too is why Chute’s often lovely, sensitive discussions of individual expression in independent comics seem so right and true. Her ideas about the utopian promise of comics - and, by extension, popular culture - can feel overstated when she refers to the "democracy of forms and types of media" at conventions like Comic-Con or in superhero movies. Far more persuasive are her discussions of the artist’s hand. It’s here that Chute finds "the grain of individual experience," locating the touch of the human that reaches and sometimes flies off the page.in "The Hand of the Comic Artist"11 dez 2017

People who lie about money are not people who can be trusted to handle your money.

If Patreon wanted to increase that commission in order to cover their costs and make a reasonable profit, I’d understand. Instead, what they’re doing is changing the entire system. They’re now charging you for accessing a service that benefits me, and telling both you and me lies to make us believe this is a good change. cited at "On Hiatus Because Of Patreon’s (Gaslighting) Changes To Fee Structure"7 dez 2017

I shouldnt have to say this, but cutting off newer/smaller creators in favor of Moderately~Extremely large earners isnt in Patreons longterm benefit. like all wells, eventually theyll run dry & have to be replaced. If youre not cultivating replacements then whats even the point

This has the added bonus of putting more cash right into Patreon’s bank accounts. Which will certainly make the investors happy, as this improves Patreon’s cash flow and improves the chances for a successful IPO. And the other thing it does? It tells all of Patreon’s users–creators and patrons alike–exactly who is calling the shots and what the real priorities are. And they’ve chosen to do it in a disgustingly predatory fashion. cited at “Funny Money, Patreon Style"7 dez 2017

The publishing landscape has changed and if you aren’t playing ball with the Big 5 or other major traditional publishers, their rules don’t apply. For the most part, that benefits the indie author. However, it also means we have to figure out what the rules are and be prepared to respond to them.

Amazon has been condemned by a number of people — authors and publishers alike

Anyone who has been reading this blog for long knows publishing isn’t what it used to be. No matter how hard traditional publishers, especially the Big 5, try to hold out, things have changed. One of the most obvious indications of that change is that it is now the Big 5 instead of the Big 6. Then, whether traditional publishing likes it or not, indie publishing is a major player in the field. The main reason for that is Amazon. However, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been pitfalls.

It is time for folks to realize that things have changed in publishing — whether you are talking the indie side or traditional publishing. Advances are down. Market shares are changing. Readers have more power than ever before because of the availability of indie and small press books. As an author, we have to not only recognize that things have change but that they are continuing to change. That means, like it or not, if we are going to do business with any of the e-tailers, we have to be prepared to jump through any hoops they throw our way.

I do wish Amazon’s communication options for authors were better. Unlike “customers” who can simply go to the Contact Us section and choose whether to have a live chat, a phone call or email their problem to customer support, authors are limited to basically emailing their issue and waiting anywhere fro 24 to 48 hours for a response.

Do I wish it were different? Hell yes. I hate the fact Amazon is basically the gorilla in the china shop and there is no real competitor on the horizon. Having any one outlet with that much power is troublesome. But it is the game we choose to play as indies. We either sell through them and jump through their hoops or we go with a smaller market share. in "It is No Longer the “Normal World” of Publishing"5 dez 2017

Kickstarter is fundamentally different from Patreon in a critical fashion: they’re a public benefit corporation; they are required by their charter to engage in a decision process that is not solely governed by how much money they can make.in "Key Words: Public Benefit"7 dez 2017

Da confiança nessas alternativas para um amanhã melhor:

Yesterday I said that Patreon would be much smaller in a year; I now think that was optimistic. Given their tone-deaf refusal to even acknowledge the concerns of their users, I think they’ve actually destroyed their platform. Even if they reverse, they’ll never be trusted again.in "Key Words: Public Benefit"7 dez 2017

Words and images right? The stage on which comics perform varies drastically within them.

Most modern mainstream comics ape a cinematic feel. Mainly dialogue driven stories (usually a lack of exposition or prose) with consistent art and setting, which uses framing, light and angles to alter mood or tone. An obvious choice, very accessible to most people, and usually effective.

In contrast, many older and independent comics use more consistent angles and shots, with more exposition and a lenient use of cartooning symbols, I.E. sound effects, accent lines, and cartoonish exaggeration to alter tone, and mood.

There is a third method, which is the one I wanted to focus on for this article: Infographics. These comics are completely exposition driven - if there is a word balloon it’s usually a single word to accent the drawing or sound effects.

You can cram a tremendous amount of story into an incredibly small page count. This differs from cinematic comics a lot. It is incredibly clear story telling with little to intemperate. On the flip side it is rigid and not very juicy storytelling.in "12/07/2017"6 dez 2017

While not necessarily what we think of when we think of comics, I think that this style can easily be argued to be part of the sequential narrative umbrella. I think now, especially with meme based comics, we’ll be seeing a big return of high exposition, static storytelling.in "12/07/2017"6 dez 2017